Youtube, a site whose content varies from cat videos to educational how-to clips, will now be charging for subscriptions to some of the most exclusive channels it hosts .

This is in light of the current popularity of online streaming streaming sites such as HuluPlus and Projectfreetv.

I mean, as a college student, I might have a shared television set in my suite’s common area, but when I think about how much it’s actually used for watching TV shows, it’s kind of useless. My suitemates and I use our TV as an external display for our laptops. I know others who use their Xboxes to stream Netflix. Even Netflix has added its own series of straight-to-online shows such as “House of Cards,” to join the growing trend toward instant web content.

It seems to be a very different world for programming these days. Gone are the days when you had to be home at exactly 8 p.m. each night to catch your favorite shows in prime-time. Now that users can access so much of that same content online, they don’t need their tv sets as much.

But when you can see your favorite shows and videos online, where does the revenue come from?

Enter Youtube subscriptions which allow creators of content from exclusive youtube channels of live networks like National Geographic to expand thier audience online, at a small price.

Only time will tell if this well end up being better or worse for content creators, who could benefit or suffer from the fees to be put in place.